Unmanned vehicles (UVs) are becoming more commonly used in operations such as combat, law enforcement and rescue operations. The planning and scheduling of multiple unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) performing multiple tasks inside an obstacle rich area is a difficult problem. This is because several problems have to be addressed simultaneously. The problems include resource (vehicle) allocation (assignment) to competing tasks, resource (vehicle) scheduling in time, geometric and spatial constraints imposed by vehicle dynamic capabilities, object-avoidance and inter-vehicle conflict resolution. Although, optimization problems, such as mixed integer nonlinear program (MINLP) problems, may be formulated for the planning and scheduling of vehicles with vehicle dynamics, object-avoidance and conflict-resolution as additional constraints, their complexity and the time constraints that would be required in solving the problems and implementing a system using the MINLP problems in this manner would be less than ideal in a situation that requires a fast response, e.g., a combat situation.
For the reasons stated above and for other reasons stated below which will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the present specification, there is a need in the art for an efficient and effective method of real time planning and scheduling for a team of unmanned vehicles.